Project Nexus
by I Used To Be A Dragon
Summary: The survival of humanity is her reason for existing, for fighting, for killing. For dying, if need be. She's never questioned that. Not until her ideals collide with something far from human. Yautja/OC. Rated M for language, gore, and sexual situations.
1. Prologue

_**Airaldi-Boltham Corporation Headquarters: Michael Boltham**_

He took a long draught of his coffee, relishing the bitterness that came with taking it black. No cream, no sugar...just the simple harsh taste of straight coffee. It was an honest drink, if a drink could be such a thing. His lips twitched into something that almost reached being a smile-not quite, but close. If people could deserve to be called honest, then a drink certainly could. He braced one arm against the surface of the window, looking down upon the wide expanse of the city. People walked along the streets, appearing so small from the great height of his office. They went about their business steadily, every existence part of one great whole. Careers, families, heroes, criminals, sex, murder...life given and life taken.

Most likely, none of them even knew that humanity existed on a precipice; a frightening edge that he would die to stop it from tumbling over. A heavy sigh pulled itself from his chest, and he turned away, facing Antonio Airaldi's old desk. He already had blood on his hands from preventing the fall once; if the next waver required the blood be his, then so be it. After all these years, his death would be a mercy. More than he deserved. More than the children he'd condemned deserved. His brows drew together in thought; perhaps it would not be such a mercy. Not if there did end up being an afterlife and he got to have Antonio as a roommate in Hell. There would be a lot to answer for. He straightened his shoulders and took a deep breath. He would face the consequences when they came, without complaint. If there was one thing in the world that Antonio could respect, it was doing what you thought necessary. No matter the cost, personal or otherwise.

He took his seat behind his old friend's desk once more, and sifted through the reports pertaining to Ivanov Island. He'd already gone over every inch of them; the progress they'd made on the genetic experiments, the overview of the species they housed at the lab...the final status report before they'd lost contact a couple of days ago. Considering the problems they'd had with the original Project Nexus, it was easy to guess what had happened. He bowed his head low, eyes dark with sorrow. If he'd found out what Antonio had done sooner, if he'd acted in time -he would've been able to order the staff to begin shutdown protocols. He ran a hand over his face, and slowly relaxed back into the leather of the seat. This still gave him an opportunity to set things right. To make sure that the experiments couldn't be started again when he no longer controlled the company.

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><p><strong>AN: This should've been up before Chapter 1, but was not, because sometimes I do not think properly. <strong>


	2. Ivanov Island

**_Ivanov Island, Project Nexus: Artemis_**

"The lab went dark a few weeks ago. We haven't heard from anyone; not through official channels or otherwise. Our goal is to make contact and see what we're dealing with."

She swept her eyes over the assembled people. Apollo didn't need to be told what they were going to be doing; he'd known from the moment she had. Her words were solely for the other two heavily armed people in front of her. Powell and Calder. She had no doubts as to their skill; if they were sent along with her for this, they'd clearly more than proved themselves. But if she was honest, she knew their true purpose. They were cannon fodder if things got rough. The shuttle jolted and she shifted on the bench before resuming talking.

"If things have gone to hell down there, we secure whatever data we can and purge the place. Survivors are not a priority. Am I clear?"

A succession of crisp nods greeted her orders and she almost smiled. No hesitation; that was what she liked to see. Considering that this was the only operation Father had dealt with personally since Project Nexus, it was probable that it would even be needed.

Wright's voice rang out from the cockpit, "We're nearing the destination. Three minutes 'til touchdown. Defenses are still up, but nothing that we'll trigger. Attempts at contact have not been reciprocated."

"Understood. Notify us if anything changes."

Pointless to remind the man. He'd been piloting shuttles for things like this for years. She slid her helmet on, signaling for the rest to follow suit, and did a last minute check of her shotgun, then leaned back into the wall of the shuttle as the familiar floaty feeling appeared in her stomach at the descent.

The shuttle settled itself onto the bright red markings of the landing pad, and the door slid open smoothly. Rain pelted down, trickling off the trees and vines, lending the black of their armor and the white of the lab a slick sheen. The whole place was eerily quiet; aside from the heavy hum of the shuttle and the patter of the rain, silence reigned. They approached the main doors, security reading their suit signatures and unlocking once their clearance levels were confirmed. Some level of power was still on, then. Good. That would make navigating the place a lot less tedious. Things tended to take a great deal longer when you had to stop and find a way to get every single door open, or avoid every precaution that had been taken against interlopers.

The entry room was empty; one of many clear signs that something was wrong. A cup of coffee rested cold and stagnant on a desk, the chair a fair distance away, but still standing. Someone had gotten up in a hurry. The computer was still on, but a cursory examination provided no new information. It was only used for menial tasks; if they were going to find out anything, logic dictated that it would be deeper inside the facility. Brief flickers of irritation touched her mind. Apollo didn't like this any more than she did; going in blind was no one's idea of fun.

"We're going to take this in teams of two, everybody. If we do need to purge this place, that'll mean clearing the blast zone quickly and making it back to the shuttle. We can't risk losing the data because we got didn't move our asses quick enough. Apollo. Take Powell and see if you can't make it to the kill switch. Calder and I will retrieve the data. Maintain radio silence; until we know what's going on, we can't risk someone listening in. Go."

From what little she did know of the place, the main data hub and the kill switch that came standard with every major operation were kept purposely far away from each other. Theoretically, there would be enough time between activating the purge and the actual blast for everyone to make it out unscathed, but setting the data hub a bit further away allowed for some extra time. If things went well, she wouldn't have to rely on that too much. But this was life; if something had a chance to bite them in the ass, she could be sure it would chomp down and refuse to let go. Always better to assume the worst would happen. Then you might have a working plan rather than flailing and getting yourself killed. Common sense, really.

She and Calder slipped through the door on the far right side while Apollo and Powell took the left side. The hallway was just as empty, the glass windows allowing an unpromising view into the rooms that lined the side. Chairs were pushed out, some overturned. People had left in a hurry. Recognition filtered through her senses; Apollo was seeing the same thing. Different rooms, different layouts...it still suggested the same thing. A thought pierced her mind, as crystal clear as if it were her own.

_They were running from something._

_We had good security here. Whatever it is, it must have come from inside the facility. _

_Pictures of betrayal filled her mind; a scientist losing sight of the end goal, beginning a coup. A turncoat in their ranks allowing mercenaries into the facility, stealing away all that they'd been working on. The images vanished as quickly as they had appeared, dismissed. A coup would have been put down or heard about; a turncoat wouldn't account for missing staff. _

_Something from the inside...it was a question with an answer that neither of them liked._

Apollo's thoughts broke away, the musing turning from full-fledged words and sentences to the sudden synchronized ideas and vague emotions that they were both more comfortable with. The corridor opened up into another room, and their suspicions were immediately confirmed. Whatever had done this was not human. Dried smears of blood were drawn in long streaks against the white of the tile, leading in a macabre trail to what little remained of a person. The body had been torn apart; the arms were gone, as was the head and a leg.

_Apollo's path was still empty. He held his gun a bit more readily at the scene before his sister's eyes._

"A purge is going to be necessary, ma'am."

"Unfortunately," she muttered in reply to Calder, and crouched by the corpse. There was little she could find to truly enlighten her, considering the state of the remains. She frowned suddenly, noting an oddity. The ribcage had been pushed up and cracked wide; it almost gave the appearance of an open gate leading to a home, if the home was a gaping hole in someone's chest.

"We need to hurry. The only way I want to disturb whatever's here is with a big fucking bomb."

She pulled up from her crouch, hefted her shotgun once again, and began her way forward, Calder following warily behind her.

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><p><strong>Reviews are always more than welcome, of course.<strong>


	3. Apollo

**Ivanov Island, Project Nexus: Apollo**

Thoughts were turning over in his head, churning and rushing like a river. He'd been on plenty of assignments with Artemis; it was rare that they were ever given separate missions, considering how much more effective they were when working together. Almost all of them had been bloody. They'd even had a few close calls. But in all that time, he'd never seen anything quite like the images that she'd given him. The way that person had been killed...it was brutal. But it was also inefficient. Everything about it suggested nothing beyond an animal intelligence. That did nothing to stop it from being worrisome, however. If something was capable of rending body and bone like that, it probably didn't need a great amount of intelligence. It just needed one moment of a person not being on guard. He turned his head back to Powell. The man looked attentive enough, but a warning was still in order.

"Artemis and Calder have found a body. Whatever we face is strong, and likely to be fast. Stay alert."

Powell hesitated for a moment, his brown eyes questioning behind the helmet's window. He nodded slowly before asking curiously, "I didn't hear them mention anything. Sir."

That was an oddity. He and his sister had never been made to work with people that were unaware of their abilities. They relied on their connection; it was what most separated them from the mercenaries in the company's employment. But that didn't mean it was public knowledge; it was still only known by a handful of people, and telling certainly wasn't encouraged. His brows furrowed momentarily and he turned away from Powell to hide his confusion. This muddled things a bit. Still, he would handle it. There was no sense in revealing anything that could cause anxiety and distrust in a delicate situation like this. It was almost certainly best to simply keep quiet.

"Keep your ears open next time."

Powell's expression shifted back to a mask of professionalism at his admonishment and he nodded,

"Aye aye, sir."

_'Powell is unaware of our connection, Artemis. I opted to keep him that way.' A surge of agitation rippled through his body, followed by a resigned feeling of approval._

_'Good. I don't want anyone panicking about us. I can tell we already have enough trouble to go around without adding anymore.'_

_'Boltham chose everyone for this personally. Even our shuttle pilot. It makes no sense to pick people that've been kept in the dark.'_

_'I'll see if I can get answers from him when we get back.'_

_Her mind drifted away and he turned his full attention outward once again._

He had a job to do, and it wasn't going to get done by speculating on Boltham's choices. The manual activation for the demolitions wouldn't be difficult to set off, considering he had top-level clearance. But given what Artemis had found, he doubted that reaching the input console would be all that easy. Getting out again would present problems as well, if past experiences were anything to go by. Still, practice made perfect, and he was far from being without practice.

The lab's design was fairly linear, with a nearby lift to take them down to the sub-level that housed the killswitch. Almost all of them were built with a worst-case scenario in mind; if a purge was necessary, it was relatively easy to get in and out, compared to previous layouts that sought to protect the labs from destruction by rogue agents through meandering paths and an abundance of rooms. He and Powell moved forward quickly and quietly, their route to the elevator surprisingly unobstructed. He found himself tense as he tapped the button to send the lift down to the sub-level. His spine tingled; everything was going entirely too smoothly. If Powell's habitual shifting of weight from foot-to-foot was anything to go by, he had the same feeling.

_'We made it to the lift. Haven't encountered anything yet.'_

_'We're making good progress as well. Other than a couple of bodies, everything's been dead quiet.'_

_'I imagine Calder likes your puns as much as I do.'_

_Mirth filtered through him, shot through with an undercurrent of anxiety._

_'He hasn't complained.'_

_'Only because you're in command._

_He could feel the warmth of her grin, even as far away as she was. It faded quickly, replaced by concern._

_'This isn't right. We should've had some sort of trouble by now. The fact that we haven't...well, it's not comforting.'_

_'I'm sure you'll get a chance to use your shotgun soon, don't worry.'_

_'I'll make whatever's here regret forcing me to wait.'_

The elevator settled as it reached its destination, the steel of the doors glinting in the harsh fluorescent light as they slid open to reveal the sub-level.

"Shit..."

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><p><strong>Reviews are always appreciated.<strong>

And I am so going to enjoy writing the next chapter.


	4. Bleeding God

**Ivanov Island, Project Nexus: Apollo**

The entire area was a hollow dome, a series of catwalks suspended across the gaping maw of a gigantic pit like the web of a spider spun in metal. While not the norm for design, it was still clearly built with the intent of the Project leads. But what it had been changed into, what had been done to the place, could not have been their plan. The rounded sides of the room, the steel of the catwalks, _everything_ in the sublevel had been covered in some sort of organic webbing. It stretched from the rails of the catwalk down to the darkness of the pit, weaving everything together in a sort of nightmarish flesh tapestry. The sublevel simply didn't exist anymore. Whatever it had been, whatever it had looked like before, was gone. But there, in the very center, where all the catwalks came together, he saw the only thing that he needed to care about. The input console. It hadn't completely escaped whatever had left the mess everywhere, but it was far better off than the rest of the place; only a few tendrils clung to its bottom half.

_Artemis had purposefully distanced herself from him, likely in an attempt to shield him from any feelings of disgust at his vision. Still, he reached out to her. _

_'Hope you're ready to go.'_

_There was no hesitation in her answer, only determination._

_'I will be. You just get rid of that mess and remember to run.'_

"Keep an eye out while I arm the demolitions, and be ready to leave."

He approached the console, his whole body tense in anticipation. He half expected the metal to crumble under his feet and send him tumbling down into the gaping maw below. Surviving the fall would be easy enough, but getting back up again would be difficult, if not impossible. And he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that they were working on a tight schedule, even if all they'd encountered so far in the way of obstacles was a disturbing choice in interior design and a few corpses.

The console immediately flashed to life at his touch, a small, flickering hologram of a woman projecting upward. The red-hued woman smiled politely, and greeted him calmly, "Biometric scan confirmed. Security clearance verified. Welcome, Agent Apollo. How may I be of assistance today?"

"I need to you to begin intiating-"

He broke off as a shaky voice sounded from below the catwalks, calling out from the pit beneath him.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

The voice was feminine, but broken and raspy, as if the vocal cords had to strain at their every use. He paused for a moment, then shifted away from the holo to look over the edge of the railings as Powell was already doing. Something moved in the pit, slowly standing and gazing up at them. A young, deathly pale woman stood below them, wearing nothing but the ragged remains of a large over shirt that did little to conceal her swollen belly. Her blonde hair was lank and matted, her thighs smeared with the brown of old blood.

_'She's pregnant. Why isn't she on leave?'_

He'd posed the question to himself, but Artemis was quick to reply.

_'We reached the destination. I'm downloading the data now. I'll see if I can find anything about her. Don't start the purge just yet; talk to her, see what you can learn. Even if we can't gather much from her now, our people might pick up something from a longer eyecam recording.'_

_'Will do.'_

He returned his attention to the woman, focusing his stare and slowly panning over her appearance for an optimal playback when they returned to Airaldi-Boltham HQ.

"We're here to help if we can, ma'am. But we need an idea of what's going on. Can you give us that?"

She'd sat back down, as if standing was tiring. Her shoulders shook, and it took him a moment to realize that her hitched breaths were sobs.

"I didn't-I didn't mean for it to happen. It just, I was just so exhausted...I slipped. I lost control of them."

Powell had turned his head to look around the room, eyebrows drawn together in worry.

"We need to get her out of here, sir. If I can find a way to get down and up again safely, I could bring her with me."

"We don't know what we're dealing with here, Powell. She could be responsible for what happened to this place, and we aren't equipped to take dangerous subjects off the island safely."

Powell faced him, his jaw set in an angry line, eyes narrow.

"With all due respect sir, she looks like she's been through hell. She has a _kid._"

"Survivors are not a priority."

He opened his mouth to speak, but seemed to think better of it at the last moment, instead swiveling and directing his attention to the crying woman.

"I don't enjoy this part of the job, Powell. But if I have to sacrifice two lives so I don't risk hundreds, that's a price I'm willing to pay."

The man nodded silently, his expression defeated.

"I understand, sir."

Ethics shouldn't have been a concern in the teams they were assigned. Just one more thing to ask Boltham about when they returned. It wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to, but it was one he needed to have. He leaned over the railing to get a better view of the woman, who seemed oblivious to their conversation, her wails muffling their words.

"What did you lose control of, miss?"

Tears were still running freely down her face, but her wracking sobs had quieted to little whimpers. She eyed him warily, her knees pulled as close as she could to her chest, hands tucked under her arms. When she spoke, it was hesitant, her words tinged with shame and fear.

"I didn't mean to."

He gritted his teeth in frustration and fought to keep a scowl away. Starting the purge without learning all he could first-hand from this woman wasn't the best case scenario, but if he wasn't able to get an answer before Artemis had finished downloading the data, it was going to happen that way.

"Whatever happened here, it's all right. No one is going to get blamed for an accident. I just need to know what you lost control of. Please. It could help us."

Her head hung low, and she whispered something inaudible.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear that, miss. Do you mind repeating it?"

She jerked her head upward, teeth bared in a furious snarl, "My children! I couldn't control my _children_."

The woman screamed in anguish, the sound high and keening. Her clenched fist slammed into the floor repeatedly, hard enough to break bone, but she didn't seem to register the pain.

_'Oh, God.'_

_'Artemis?'_

_'Initiate the purge and get the hell out. NOW, Apollo.'_

He stepped away from the railing, ignoring the woman's screeches, and turned to the patiently waiting holo, who once again smiled politely at him.

"Begin initiating purge sequence."

"Warning: Initiating purge sequence will eliminate all lifeforms within this building and cause significant structural damage."

"I understand. Initiate purge sequence."

The woman flickered and nodded her assent.

"Purge sequence initiated. It is recommended that all personnel evacuate the premises within the required five minutes. Have a pleasant day."

The holo shimmered briefly, then vanished.

He and Powell moved to leave, but the woman's voice rang out from below them, much clearer than before,"Are you going to kill us?"

He looked at the woman's haunted, glassy eyes one last time and said simply, "I'm sorry."

Her gaze was empty, her shoulders slumped. "So am I," She tilted her face up again, "my children are coming. I couldn't keep them away. Not from you."

Her only answer was the clanging sound of their boots on metal as they sprinted toward the elevator. They had five, probably four now, minutes to get out of this place alive. Meeting her children would be an experience more than worth missing.

_'On our way out.'_

_'Last one to the shuttle is a rotten egg.'_

_'Oh, that'll be Powell.'_

_'Nah, definitely Calder.'_

_'Just make sure you get there.'_

_'Will be. Worry about yourself.'_

Powell's boots thudded close behind him. The elevator was up ahead, the shiny steel of the doors a welcome sight. He skidded to a stop in front of them, hammered on the button and waited for them to slide open. He glanced back; Powell had fallen a bit behind, but didn't seem to be tiring. He would make it. The doors opened and he stepped inside. Powell was sprinting, his armor reflecting a dull sheen under the fluorescent light.

A loud banging came from the ceiling, and a white-painted vent fell down with a clatter, followed by something that large and glinting black. It landed on Powell, slamming him face down to the floor, downing the kinetic barriers of his armor. Jaws opened wide, sharp teeth and dripping saliva. He fired. The creature screamed as the bullets met their target, yellow-green blood spraying and burning through all that it landed on. It bit down once, cracking helmet and skull, stopping Powell's yells.

He pushed the button on the elevator, directing it upward.

The creature turned and leaped.

_'Forgot to run. Sorry, Artemis.'_


	5. DOA

**A/N: Hugely sorry for how long this took, life has been a major pain. Updates should start being regular again now, though.  
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><p><strong>Ivanov Island, Project Nexus: Artemis<strong>

Artemis sifted through the files on the hub, searching for any pertinent information she could find in the time that the data downloaded to her suit's microframe. There were lab reports that she didn't have the opportunity to study in depth, but she found herself most interested in the mess of security footage even though, so far, it had turned up nothing new. People going about their rounds, having coffee, chatting...useless to her. She sighed and shut down another playback, then moved on to the next video. She paused; this one was different. She'd seen the infirmary before, but usually it was empty of anything other than a person making a show of tidying up some non-existent mess. This time, though, something was happening. And it didn't look like anything good. A small woman lay on one of the beds, her belly swollen and skin sweaty, her face twisted in a mask of pain. Several people, presumably medical staff though they were wearing hazmat suits, were working in a frenzy of movement. Artemis's eyes narrowed as she peered down at the video.

_Bad_ might have been an understatement about this facility.

The woman's knuckled tightened and went white where she grasped the sheets, and her whole body surged upward as she screamed. Something slid out from between her legs in a gush of blood, and the woman fell down against the bed, her eyes rolled back into her skull until only the whites showed. Whatever she had birthed was large and distinctly round in shape; in the back of her mind, a memory twitched, begging to come to light. She frowned, unable to completely recall whatever it was she had buried back there with all the other project failures. She leaned a bit closer in an attempt to make out any details and promptly started back as the thing unwound itself in a tangle of legs.

_Oh, god. _

_Shit. Shit, shit, shit, SHIT._

She didn't bother to be careful in keeping her consciousness away from Apollo, her thoughts crashing violently into his mind.

_'Artemis?'_

Strains of worry flooded into her; she pushed past them with difficulty.

_'Initiate the purge and get the hell out. NOW, Apollo.'_

She'd seen the spider creature in a previous report; another facility like this one, about thirty years back. They'd found the alien species on a base in Mars and brought it to Earth for study as part of Project Nexus. Despite major advances in hybridism, further experiments had been banned. The species was too volatile, too clever to attempt containment. It hadn't ended well then, and whoever thought it would end well now needed to have a good explanation prepared.

They'd discontinued the research for a reason.

"Calder. Get ready to leave."

He nodded, and she turned back to watch the files download with a rapidly beating heart. It was almost done.

_'On our way out.'_

She forced a grin as the last of the reports completed, and gestured for Calder to follow her forward.

_'Last one to the shuttle is a rotten egg.'_

_'Oh, that'll be Powell.'_

_'Nah, definitely Calder.'_

_'Just make sure you get there.'_

Her reply was delayed, strained.

_'Will be. Worry about yourself.'_

She'd never enjoyed making promises she didn't know she could keep.

"Keep two eyes out, Calder. We're not alone here. If I go down, take my suit's microframe chip and leave me."

"Understood, ma'am."

Whatever they'd been working on here had cost a lot of lives. If they lost the research, it had all been pointless. Dying for a cause was one thing. Dying senselessly was entirely another. Potential wasted. Pointless, pointless, _pointless._

She hadn't run this fast in months, maybe even years. Not since that incident with the hyenas, anyway. There was nothing quite like certain doom to liven up your step, but she would've rathered some music with a good beat. Less chance of limb loss that way.

Her breath was coming fast and hard, and talking wouldn't be easy, but she radioed for Wright in the shuttle anyway. She didn't want to be here any longer than necessary, and she certainly didn't want to deal with any of the aliens catching up to them while they waited for the shuttle to be ready for take off.

She remembered the reports. They were fast, strong, and they bled _acid. _Her shotgun wasn't the best weapon for such an encounter. It would kill them, sure, but it wasn't meant for long-range and the acid from an up-close fight would be problematic at best.

Wright wasn't picking up.

_Damn it. _

If they'd somehow managed to reach the shuttle...she'd figure something out. She knew how to pilot the shuttle in emergencies. It wouldn't be as easy if the controls were melted by acid or if she had an arm bitten off, but-she'd figure something out. Adaptability. It was why humanity prospered, why they _dominated. _

She wasn't going to give anyone a reason to name her a failure, an example of what not to do.

Calder was still behind her, breathing raggedly, but not faltering. They were almost there. They had to be.

_'Forgot to run. Sorry, Artemis.'_

She stumbled, caught herself.

Sudden pain shot through her, wracking her body with agony. It felt like she'd just had liquid fire thrown on her skin. She bit back a scream and fell against the wall, struggling to hold herself up.

Calder had stopped beside her and was fumbling with her armor, trying to remove the chip. She slapped his hands away weakly and pulled herself away from the wall, doing her best to block out the pain shrieking through her body.

"Not...dying...yet." She ground her words out, flinching at the faint taste of iron in her mouth. She dragged herself forward again, took a deep breath, and began a staggering run.

The pain was fading slowly, growing distant and disconnected.

She wasn't going to think about why. Not now.

The entry room was ahead. She could smell the rain from the outside, see the flicker of lighting under the doors.

They slammed through at a dead sprint, rain whipping around them as they hurtled outside. Her lungs were burning, her skin still tingled with the memory of fire, but they were almost at the...her eyes widened and her breath seized up.

The shuttle was gone.


End file.
